Fortunate Few
by dragonasp
Summary: This is a what-if type story.  As such, it begins before the outbreak.  Komuro Takashi stayed up late on the night before the end of the world.  When he oversleeps on Z-Day, it will change lives.
1. Chapter 1

Ok. To start off, I know next to nothing about Japanese culture or language. As such, I have written this story to express everything to the best of my ability and understanding. This is only my second posting, my first story being one that popped up in my head as I was thinking about this one. I set this one to M for language, and the fact that I don't know where this story will go over time. I hope y'all enjoy this story. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

After posting this, some flaws were brought to my attention by Draco38. I want this to be as well written as I can make it because I know that misspellings and the like tend to jump out at me from the page, disrupting the flow of the story, and I don't want y'all having to deal with that for too long either. If anyone else finds serious flaws with spelling or grammar, please inform me. Thanks again to Draco38 for bringing the flaws to my attention. They have been fixed in this posting.

**I Own None Of The Highschool Of The Dead Characters **

**Chapter One: Dead Asleep**

_The Night Before Everything Ended..._

_I stayed up late._

**Sophomore:**

**Komuro Takashi**

**Z-Day 06:45**

The room was completely dark, making the glowing red numbers on the alarm clock appear even brighter, casting the room in red tinged shadows. A loud, piercing screech coming from the same source as the red light. An unrecognizeable lump shifts on the bed, a deep moan issuing from it. Slowly, an arm extends from the lump toward the offending alarm clock.

Takashi's head was killing him. He had stayed up way too late the previous evening. He shifted in bed, the movement causing his stomache to flip. Moaning loudly he forcibly held his last meal down. Very gently he shifted his arm from beneath the covers toward the alarm clock. Feeling it beneath his fingers, he pressed down the first button which should be the snooze function. Hopefully he'd feel better in fifteen minutes. He let his arm simply drop to hang off the side of the bed as he dropped back into slumber, never realizing that the button pressed was actually the second button, and had turned the alarm off.

_He slipped quickly back into the darkness. It was peaceful there, the nothingness of deep sleep. Gradually, the darkness gave way to pale grey light that illuminated an obscuring mist. "Takashi, I'm going to be your wife." A portion of the mist thins out and the shadowy image of a five year old Rei holds out her hand, pinky extended. "It's a pinky promise." _

_Takashi struggles to reach out with his pinky to seal the promise. No matter how fast he moves his legs or how much he stretches, he can't reach her. As the mist thickens again, he yells out in desperation. "Rei, wait! Come back!"_

_"No, you don't understand, you never understand!" Takashi turned to see the shadowy figure of Rei now, head down, her back to him. He begins to speak, then stops himself. No, he wants to be comforting. He wants to tell Rei that it's ok, he doesn't care if she has to stay back a year. That it doesn't change a thing. Instead, he hears himself, being the same idiot that he was then. _

_"Why would you stay back a year? You're such a good student...I want to understand!"_

_Rei's shoulders slumped further as she began walking away and shaking her head. "No, Takashi, its ok. Nevermind."_

_Once again the mist thickened. No, no no please, no. Takashi struggled harder. He tried closing his eyes to the mist but they wouldn't obey. Anything but this, please. Not again, no more, please. Don't make me see this again night after night! Come on alarm clock! Wake me up, COME ON! No matter how he struggled, the dream marched relentlessly on, as it always did. The mist thinned once again, but this time it dissolved completely to reveal a bricked path bordered by trees, their pink blossoms occassionally being lifted into the air by the breeze to drift down around the two people walking hand-in-hand away from him. Igou Hisashi's voice drifts back to Takashi. He's talking about something funny he saw a teacher do during class that day. The music of Rei's laughter reaches his ears soon after. Turning her head to say something to Hisashi, Rei sees Takashi out of the corner of her eye. The smile leaves her face and she drops Hisashi's hand as she turns around. "Takashi?"_

_Suddenly everything is a blur. He can't focus on anything as he flies along. One second he was a child of five playing with Rei, the next he was talking to Takagi Saya about his plans to do something really special for Rei to make her feel better about staying back a year. The years flowed by like the rapids of a river. Suddenly, he was sitting at a desk in an empty classroom. Rei is standing at the door. She's said many things to him, but he has no idea what any of them were. He was too busy thinking of her hand in Hisashi's. "I don't get you Takashi, at all. I'm sorry if we hurt you, but you just never tried, and now its too late, please can you just be happy for me?" With that, she left the room. She looked back once, but she never stopped. The room began dissolving back into the mists. Takashi braced himself for the unknown as the mists swallowed him, usually he would've woken by now so this was all new to him. _

**Sophomore:**

**Hirano Kouta**

**Z-Day 8:25**

Hirano fell to his knees with a gasp. He barely registered the laughter from the boys surrounding him as he concentrated on the pain in his gut. He hated slow days like today. These guys were always worse when they were bored. As great as last week was, he knew that his rescue had only been chance and that this time he was just going to have to endure. Someday though, someday things would change. He wouldn't need a rescue then. All of these bastards would. As the pain subsided, Hirano began to hear again.

"Damn, you run out of candy and decide to eat rocks fat ass?" Hirano looked up to see the leader rubbing his knuckles. Appearently he'd hurt them while trying to shove his fist far enough into Hirano's gut to touch his spine. Without thought, Hirano smiled. "Oh! Is Tubby laughing at my pain? Pick him back up so that I can help him stay happy." Two of the others grabbed Hirano under his arms and hoisted him up. With a swift motion, the leader swung a punch. Thump! Hirano noticed the sound a split second before the pain from the punch hit. He sagged in his captors arms. "Yeah, you like that?" Thump! "Come on, smile!" Thump! "Damn It! I said SMILE!" This time the fist connected with Hirano's jaw and his head snapped back, hitting one of the boys holding him.

"Fuck! Watch it, dipshit! You know, lard ass here is fucking heavy. I'm letting him go." Hirano fell to the floor. The two kicked him in the side as they stepped out from behind him. Vaguely through the haze of pain, Hirano noticed a shadow come up behind the laughing gang of boys.

After a moment of listening, the shadow spoke. "Well, what do we have here? Are you boys behaving yourselves?" Hirano knew that voice, and his heart sank. Mr. Shido. He encouraged this type of behavior. "Ah, Hirano Kouta. I see you are playing a game with these fine young men. Sadly, I must take your friends away from you for awhile. Class, after all, must proceed as scheduled. Take yourself to the nurse Hirano, you look to be a bit ill. Gentlemen, let us adjourn to the classroom. I'm sure he can find the nurse without our assistance." Every one of the gang made sure to kick Hirano as they left the restroom and trailed behind Mr. Shido.

Kouta pulled himself into a sitting position. Well, would wonders never cease. He didn't know it, but Mr. Shido had just saved him a ton of pain and suffering. Heh. Bastard was still an asshole. Leaning back against the wall, Kouta rested his eyes. Once he caught his breath, he'd head out to see Miss Marikawa. She could give him some aspirin, maybe let him rest a bit. She's a bit ditzy, but she knows her medicine. Easy on the eyes too. Hmmm, maybe not too bad of a day afterall.

**School Nurse**

**Marikawa Shizuka**

**Z-Day 8:50**

Talking quietly to herself, Marikawa Shizuka bustled around the nurse's office. Going to school and holding down a job was quite stressful so to relax every morning, she would check all of her supplies and medications while she let her mind wander. This usually led to her talking to herself. So what if it furthered her appearance as a crazy ditz, its not like she could argue, well, at least not the ditz part. This morning, she found herself mumbling questions and answers to herself in preparation for her next test at medical school. She loved being a medical student, it was one of the few things she could stay reliably focused on. As she turned to place a box of bandages back in their storage cabinet, her boobs struck something solid. Thinking to herself that there wasn't supposed to be another shelf nearby, she felt more than heard a muffled voice saying something. Taking a step back, she saw Hirano Kouta standing there, his face precisely where her breasts had just been. He took a gasping breath as he supported himself on the cabinet for her bandages.

"Why, good morning Hirano. I'm sorry I didn't notice you there. I was just making sure everything was where it was supposed to be." She looked closer at Hirano. "You really don't look to good, you might want to see someone about that." Placing the box of bandages in the cabinet, she turned away, already thinking up another question to ask herself. Hirano's voice interrupted her however.

"Um, Miss Marikawa, that's why I'm here. To see someone about me not looking good that is." Lowering his head, he added, "I-I kind of ran into these guys this morning and... well now I have a headache and my stomache hurts somewhat too." Freezing in place, Marikawa slowly pivoted. The slight heel of her loafers made a slight squealing sound as she finished. Now she really looked at Hirano, seeing the dirt and scratches, and a red welt on the left side of his jaw. She may be clumsy, and she may be a ditz, but she needed no further explaination as to what had happened when Hirano _ran into_ those _guys_, little pricks. In that moment, the look on Miss Marikawa's face and in her eyes had Hirano involuntarily stepping back. In a flash it was gone and she smiled happily to Hirano.

"Tell you what, go lay down on one of the beds over there, I'll bring you over an aspirin for your headache, then I'll check you out real quick to make sure that those thugs didn't hurt you too terribly." Hirano started trying to make some nonsensical excuse, but she cut him off. "Don't try acting like nothing happened, or telling me it wasn't the same group of boys that attacked you last week. You know, you're not the only one they pick on, I've had four others in here over the last week, all with the same pitiful excuses and lame stories. I know I'm a bit dumb sometimes, but give me at least a little credit." As she said all of this she was filling a glass with water and pouring two aspirin into her hand. Then she took the glass and the aspirin to Hirano, whose mouth was hanging open in shock.

"To tell the truth, you're the last person I expected to see in here because of those boys. You know, given what happened last week and all. Say, where were Takagi and Komuro during all of this?" Hirano almost choked at this last question, sputtering water everywhere. After a moment of coughing and Miss Marikawa thumping him on the back, he finally managed to answer her.

"Sorry Miss Marikawa, but Takagi, Komuro, and I are not friends. I'd like to be, and I really appreciated their assistance last week, its just that...well they don't need to be my friends. I'm sure they have way too many friends to count anyway."

"Oh, well I'm sorry...I just assumed...with how angry Takagi was when she brought you in here that day, and her going on like that about how dare they do that to you...I guess I just figured...never mind. Lay back and rest now. You're not going anywhere for awhile, certainly not until I've checked out your bruises and disinfected those scratches. I'll be right back, just going to wash up and gather the things I'll need." As she walked away, Hirano was lost in deep thought.

**Takashi**

**Z-Day 10:20**

The room is no longer populated with red tinged shadows, the light sneaking past the curtains having sufficently illuminated the room so that the alarm clock's red digits cannot continue to dominate. The lump on the bed stirs yet again, as it has numerous times in the last hour, its occupant drifting closer to awareness only to be sucked back into his restless sleep.

_He knows he's dreaming. He's been seeing the past over and over again. Little moments of no importance, major turning points, and everything in between. Many times he's tried to change the outcomes, only to find himself a prisoner, shackled to his decisions, walking the same path again no matter how painful. His heart has broken so many times now, he tells himself there must be nothing left only to have his mind dredge up another memory to re-live. Currently, its a memory of the day after his world ended, the day Rei officially told him that she was dating their friend Hisashi. He didn't move from that classroom for a long while after she left. When he did, it was because Takagi had come looking for him._

_"Honestly Takashi! What are you doing sitting in here in the dark? This is not the end of the world you know!"_

_He looked up at her in shock. She was leaning on the door frame, studying his face. Wha-what did she just say? How did she even know? Surely Rei hadn't told Takagi what was happening, right?_

_"Look," she said, "I'm a genius, you know? Nobody had to tell me anything. I've suspected for awhile that something was going on between Rei and Igou. Seeing you yesterday tearing into the school like your backside was on fire, with Rei and him coming from the same direction and clearly looking for you, I didn't need anything more to know that I was right. I'm sorry. I saw you and Rei coming in here, so I figured when I saw Rei outside at a table eating lunch that you'd still be here. Now, you've had your time to mope, so let's go get something to eat before lunch is over." She straightened and headed out into the hallway. "Now, Stupid!" Takashi blinked._

_He was no longer in the classroom. He and Takagi were walking down one of the first floor corridors toward their lockers. They were approaching one of the court areas where the hall opened up when they heard a loud slam behind the lockers to the left, followed by several boys' sadistic laughter. Takagi and he looked at each other, then hurried towards the sounds. Rounding the lockers, they found six of the school's thugs gathered around a figure on the floor. Two of the group lifted the figure from the floor by his school jacket. He looked familiar to Takashi._

_Takagi hissed through her teeth beside Takashi. "I know him! He's the kid I was telling you about, you know, the one in fifth period? He's always looking at me out of the corner of his eyes and creeping me out, remember?" _

_"Oh yeah," Takashi said. "Oh, that's why he looks familiar to me. You pointed him out in class the other day, he sits just behind you, in the row to your right. Has he ever done anything other than look at you?"_

_Takagi bit her lower lip as she shook her head. "Even if he had, he doesn't deserve to be treated like this!" She gestured to where the leader of the group was pulling his arm back in preparation of another hit. _

_Odd that he was dreaming about this moment. He would never wish to alter his actions at this moment. There was absolutely nothing to regret in this memory. As Takashi took several steps toward the group, someone stepped from around the other end of the lockers and requested in a calm voice that the group release the boy. A very calm, very FEMALE voice. This caused Takashi to lose focus on the leader and actually look at the owner of the voice. Long purple-black hair pulled up into a high ponytail, holding books in one hand, her free hand hanging casually at her side. No one in the entire school would have difficulty identifying this girl. Busujima Saeko, president of the kendo club, she led them to the national competition last year. _

_This was the closest Takashi had ever been to her. Her eyes briefly found his and he felt somewhat unbalanced. Such blue eyes. Incredible. The leader speaking caused her gaze to move on and re-focus on the group's leader. "Hey, step off Bitch! You may be the shit in a competition, but this is the real world. There are no rules or judges to save your ass. If you don't leave maybe I'll have to take you into the men's room and teach you a thing or two." The leader said with an evil sneer._

_Takashi could never explain it. Hearing that pig talk about doing THAT to any woman made something inside snap. Before he'd really thought about his actions Takashi felt his fist connecting with the jerk's jaw. With a satisfying thump the leader slammed into the lockers and began sliding down. Seemingly in slow motion Takashi watched one of the other thug's fists flying toward his own face and he knew that he wouldn't be fast enough to block it. He braced for the impact that never came. Instead, the thug hit a locker when his swing was deflected by Busujima Saeko's slender hand when she appeared beside Takashi._

_Even here in the dream, the rest was a blur. He fought several of the guys, somehow staying out of Busujima's way as she gracefully danced around them all, weaving in and out. Sometimes she was far away, sometimes at his back. Once, he would've even sworn that she wrapped her arms around him and kicked one of the thugs in the chest with both feet. Of course, maybe that was simply his own imagining. Through it all, the only clear images for him were glimpses of intese blue eyes studying him._

_Suddenly it was all over. The thugs were dragging themselves away down the hall and he was picking up the guy the thugs had been beating on. Other than a split lip, he looked reasonably well. "Hey, are you ok? Look, we're going to take you to the nurse, get you checked out, ok?" The poor guy looked at Takashi like he was a mirage or something. "Ok, let's start over. My name's Komuro Takashi, who are you?" _

_Looking away in embarrassment, the guy saw Takagi watching from the edge of the lockers and he looked back to Takashi quickly. "H-Hirano Kouta. S-sorry that you... were troubled... Sorry. Thank you for your help." The mists closed in again. Takagi's voice echoed from everywhere._

_"There's NOTHING we can do about those... those... ASSHOLES! God what a load of crap! Look at what they did to Hirano! How often have they done this to him? To others? Of course they're all children of some of Tokonosu's richest families so the staff won't do one damned thing. Promise me Takashi that we'll try to make sure he doesn't get treated that way again, ok?" He'd promised, how could he not? Since kindergarten, he'd never once won an argument with Takagi. As the mist faded to black, Takashi heard the school nurse. "Wow. Isn't it nice to have such good friends who'll take care of you no matter what? I wish I could've had such good friends when I was in highschool." With a sensation of flying, Takashi was suddenly shooting backwards, and the blackness resolved into the pupil of an eye, surrounded by an iris as blue as an evening sky. Just...Incredible._


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the second chapter, I hope y'all like it. Thanks for reading.

**Chapter Two: Waking The Dead**

**Sophomore:**

**Takagi Saya**

**Z-Day 12:50**

Takagi Saya sat alone at a table beneath the trees, cherry blossoms falling unnoticed into her light strawberry-blonde hair, what some would even call pink, and onto the remnants of her lunch. She absently tapped her finger to her lips as she mulled over questions in her mind. Where is he? Why wasn't he in ANY of his classes this morning? Didn't he realize that she couldn't adequately demonstrate her genius to the rest of these morons? She needed someone who at least knew they were stupid, otherwise they could never really see how much smarter she was than them. She needed Takashi.

If she were honest with herself, she'd admit that he was, in truth, her best friend, despite how she'd treated him since kindergarten. He understood her and accepted her as no one else ever had. Takagi's eyes narrowed. It was probably Rei, he was likely up on the roof again, still moping over her leaving him for Igou Hisashi. Clearly he needed to be informed yet again how stupid he was being and how much better off he was without her leading him around like a puppy all the time. Yes, and she was just the person to do it! With a smile Takagi stood and began clearing her lunch items from the table.

Someone clearing their throat caught her attention and she turned to look at the intruder, a rebuke on her lips and a haughty expression on her face. The rebuke died before it began and the haughty expression was replaced by a look of undisguised malice. The spikey-haired blonde in front of her smiled broadly. He had on the school's uniform black jacket, in his hand he held a beautiful paper flower. Taking a breath he asked her for the fourth time, "Takagi, would you do me the honor of going out with me?"

Without a second's hesitation, she swung her fist into his arm, causing him to drop the fake flower. "I don't have time for this today you idiot! When am I going to get it through your incredibly thick head that I'm not interested?" she yelled. "I know I'm beautiful, and my genius draws you to me, but seriously, enough is enough! Go away and do NOT bother me again!"

She turned to leave, but stopped mid stride. Turning quickly she said, "Hold on a minute. I've seen you talking with Komuro Takashi, and you look like friends. I need to find him and so YOU are going to help me. I'm going to look for him up on the roof, but I want you to go check his dorm room on the off chance he's hiding out in there. If you find him, tell him I'm looking for him and that I expect to see him in class this afternoon. Got it?"

He looked taken aback. "B-B-But, I had plans for this afternoo-" Takagi cut him off. "Well those plans just changed." With that, she turned and strode off toward the buildings, leaving the blonde guy standing there, scratching his head.

**Sophomore:**

**Morita Hideo**

**Z-Day 12:55**

"That went better than expected. I'm wearing her down. Wearing. Her. Down." Morita stood for a minute, smiling and scratching his head as he watched Takagi walk away. She knows Komuro? How? What does she want with him? Ah well, this might be a good way to get into her good graces. Besides, he had to know how she knew Komuro. With that thought, Morita headed off for the dormatories, humming a song to himself as he went. On the ground, the forgotten paper flower began fluttering, and soon blew away to join countless cherry blossoms as they danced beneath the trees.

**Sophomore:**

**Miyamoto Rei**

**Z-Day 12:55**

Takagi's yelling having caught her attention, Miyamoto Rei watched with mild interest as Takagi left the confused looking blonde kid behind after having given him some sort of instructions. What was his name again? She'd seen him around school some, at least twice before, asking Takagi out, and once with Takashi. Somehow she must never have caught his name.

Her eyes followed Takagi's path until she was almost to the administrations building, when movement from where Takagi had eaten lunch drew her eyes once again to the lovestruck blonde. She watched as he walked away toward the dormatories. The light breeze occassionally carrying the sounds of him humming to himself as he went.

With the excitement clearly over, Rei turned her eyes back to her companion. As always, she found herself admiring his great looks. Ash blonde hair, almost grey really, so pleasant to touch. His light brown eyes, always so full of understanding. Last but not least, his gorgeous body. Certainly, it was carefully hidden right now beneath his school uniform, but she'd watched him enough at gym class to know its muscular definition. She was so enthralled in her study of him that she missed him saying something. "Mmmmmmmm? What was that Hisashi?"

He smiled that smile she loved so much as he said, "Well, I asked you if you were done and ready to head in to get our books for class. I guess you were too busy being nosy to hear me." As he finished, his grin grew larger.

"Nosy? What are- Oh! Watching Takagi with that blonde guy? Sorry. She yelled and I couldn't help but look. At first I figured she would be yelling at Takashi, it was a bit suprising to see that other guy." She frowned. "You know, come to think of it, I haven't seen Takashi at all today, have you?"

He sighed. "No, I haven't. I...I think he's been avoiding us. I know he hasn't said an entire sentence to me in the past week. The occassional hello, a few nods, but nothing substancial, nothing worthy of the word conversation, nothing since..."

"Since he found out about us," she finished. They both sat in silence for a time, lost in thought. Finally, Hisashi reached out and took Rei's hand. "It will be ok, he'll come around to the idea...eventually. I just wish he'd found out about us by our own admission rather than seeing us out together like that." He looked away toward the city, his view blocked by the large walls surrounding the campus. "By the time you got to talk to him the next day, his hurt had already deafened him to your words. Come on, or we'll be late."

Together they stood and gathered their things, then, hand in hand, they walked toward the main classroom building. After a few steps, Rei placed her head on Hisashi's shoulder. Sniffling could be heard on the breeze.

When Rei and Hisashi were gone, an unnoticed figure, long hair blowing around her face, stood up from where she'd been sitting underneath one of the trees, not far from the table Takagi had recently abandoned. Sedately, and without a sound, the figure strode off in the direction that Rei and Hisashi had departed.

**P.E. Teacher**

**Hayashi Kyoko**

**Z-Day 12:55**

"This has been one hell of a day, and I'm only part way through it!" Hayashi Kyoko muttered to herself as she climbed from her car in the parking lot behind the dorms at Fujimi Highschool. Closing the driver's door, she took a moment to straighten her wire-rimmed glasses before stepping to the back of the car and opening the hatch-back. "First I have no hot water for my shower..." Bending into the back of the car, her voice muffles, but a small grunt can still be heard as she picks up a box filled with ping-pong equipment and other things. As she stands, her muttering can be heard again. "of course NOT. Instead, I am made even later by getting a damned FLAT on the way because...because...damn it because the world hates me, that's why. To make these matters worse, the first words out of Mr. Teshima's mouth when I get here are _Say, you DID remember to bring in all that equipment we used at the competition two WEEKS ago, right? I mean, it will be hard to do your PRACTICE this afternoon if you didn't, and my P.E. class today will need nets if we're going to be doing volleyball. I love teaching volleyball don't you? _I then have to tell him that no, I did NOT remember them and assure him that I will have his precious volleyball nets to him after lunch. So, I'm now starving AND I'm almost out of gas! Irritating pervert. He just likes to watch the girls' boobs bounce!" Pressing the button on her key to lock the car doors, Hayashi makes her way into the boys dormatory.

The first floor and basement of the dorm is a common area, where boys or girls can be. It has a reception desk as you walk in where a security officer sits and a register is kept to so that the school can easily tell who is visiting the dorm. In the basement is a rec room where they have various forms of entertainment, including Ping-Pong tables. This dorm is where she told Mr. Teshima to come to get his nets, since she was going to have the Ping-Pong club practice here this afternoon. Setting the box on the reception desk. Flashing her Fujimi Highschool Teacher's badge, Hayashi signs in the register book. She tells the security officer, "If I'm not back, Mr. Teshima's supposed to come and pick up this box soon." Then she heads to the restroom.

While washing her hands after finishing up, Hayashi hears Mr. Teshima's voice through the door. "Yeah, I'm just here to pick up this box. Hang on...you know, the least she could've done was get her stuff out of this box before leaving it for me. What am I going to do with Ping-Pong equipment?" Mentally bracing herself, Hayashi stepped out of the bathroom to speak with Mr. Teshima.

"It is a simple matter of REMOVING the smaller box from within the larger box Mr. Teshima. I would've done so myself, but I had pressing matters to attend to and the smaller box is somewhat unstable." He sneered at her comment and looked meaningfully at the door to the bathroom. "Just hand me the box and I'll take it down to the basement."

"Actually, I thought you'd like to help me out with my class this afternoon, seeing as how I helped YOU out this morning when you couldn't get here to teach your class. I'm sure you could teach them some things I can't." Teshima said with a wink. Hayashi inwardly shuddered at the innuendo, but she knew he had her. It was a courtesy thing. If someone had to cover your class for you, then you made yourself available to them whenever they asked it of you.

Taking the smaller box, she said, "Just let me take this down stairs, and we'll go get those nets set up." As she turned from the desk and Mr. Teshima, a boy with spiky blonde hair entered the building and headed straight for the stairs. When the security guard said something to him, the boy turned his head to reply, and promptly bumped into Hayashi. The box fell to the floor, making a slight hissing sound as air pressed out from beneath it and, being unstable, tipped over spilling ping-pong balls and paddles out onto the floor. Seeing what he'd done, the boy attempted to help her gather up the fleeing balls, but all he managed was to hamper her long enough that several actually bounced off down the stairs to the basement. Now Hayashi KNEW the world hated her. She said over her shoulder, "I'll get this cleaned up as fast as I can." Pointing to the boy, she said, "YOU are going to help me clean it up, seeing as how you were so helpful in making the mess." The boy started to argue, but her look cut him off. With a sigh, he started picking up ping-pong balls.

Teshima watched this for a moment before saying, "I don't have time for this Miss Hayashi. I'm going to go over and start setting up the nets, you just hurry along when you're finished." Hayashi watched as he grabbed the box and stepped through the doors into the bright day, then let out a puff of air. "Sorry for the trouble Miss Hayashi." the boy said. Looking back to him, she smiled.

"Nothing to apologize for, in fact, I should probably be thanking you. Bumping into me like that, you post-poned a rather unpleasant event for me. I don't believe I've had you before, what's your name?"

The boy looked startled. "Uhh, my name is Morita Hideo, Miss Hayashi. Still, I'm sorry. I guess I was kind of in a hurry." He began walking down the stairs, stopping on the third step to pick up one of the runaway balls. Hayashi followed behind him, carrying the box. "Well, if it's truly urgent, I suppose you could go ahead and get wherever you're going, I'll finish this up." she said. Morita shook his head. "Nah, I don't mind helping, besides, there's plenty of time, right?"

**Takashi**

**Z-Day 1:05**

The figure in the room slumbers peacefully for the first time in hours. The clock numbers show 1:05, their glow slowly starting to reclaim dominance as the sun begins the long journey down from its high point. In the dimness, the figure smiles.

_Takashi lays in the darkness with his hands behind his head. He smiles as he gazes up at the beautiful blue eyes looking down at him. Normally this type of dream would be too creepy for words, but for some reason, he feels a tremendous peace being watched over by them. They are familiar to him, but he can't remember why. Slowly the grin fades from his face. He closes his eyes trying to remember who he knows with blue eyes._

_"Just Like A Poison Eel! Manda, Manda! Manda, Manda, Mandaaa! Manda, Manda, Manda, Manda!" That voice singing. Why the hell is Morita here? Takashi opened his eyes. He's on the roof of the administration building, walking toward a spiky-haired blonde who was sitting on the rooftop playing a guitar. Morita. He came to the roof to get away that evening, to think about everything that had happened. Losing Rei, helping Hirano, his promise to Takagi...only to find others there. "Morita... what the hell kind of song is that?"_

_Morita started. "Oh, Komuro! Don't see you up here after school too often. Something wrong? Did Miyamoto hurt your feelings again?" Takashi sat with a sigh. "Whoa, she really did? Sorry!" Takashi felt a hand on his shoulder. "D-Don't get down about it! There are plenty of fish in the sea! Oh yeah, I've got something that may interest you! Its a secret but I can show you." Suddenly Morita shoved a book under his nose. "Master Morita's Top Secret List Of Fujimi Academy's Triple-A Grade Hot Girls!" He heard himself question the top secret status of the list. " Of course! Once my band gets its big break, our groupies will be the girls on this list! In other words.. This is a list of the academy's available girls! First we have...Captain of the kendo team, Busujima Saeko! Not only does she have beauty, but she has a dazzling combination of severity and kindheartedness! Best of all, she's got a totally dominating older sister-type feel to her! It's what all guys dream of!" _

_A warm feeling passed through Takashi as he heard her name. He briefly thought he could see a pair of blue eyes staring at him, then they faded. Wasn't he trying to remember something? What was it? Eyes, the deepest blue. That very afternoon, the fight, Busujima Saeko, those INCREDIBLE eyes! Suddenly he could see her before him, standing there as she had today. With the memory the warm feeling came back to him and settled in his chest, where her hand had rested briefly after the fight. When she asked if he was ok. She was who he was trying to remember, who had been staring at him. The roof re-focused and Busujima Saeko faded as he felt himself speaking. "Oh...I've seen her before. She definately has something to her. And she's really cool."_

_A wide smile split Morita's face. "I know right! She's too good to be from earth! What I really want...is to see her in nothing but an apron! Maybe in a thong too!"_

_Takashi felt his face go slack, for some reason upset by Morita's fantasy. He said, "Like she'd ever wear that."_

_Blissfully unaware of his friend's change of mood, Morita continued speaking. "Yeah, I guess that'd never happen...she also seems like she'd be hard to approach. Ahh...How depressing." He immediately launched into the profile on the next girl on his list, but Takashi was only half listening, commenting when appropriate. He was still thinking of Busujima Saeko and the strange feelings she was causing. _

_Slowly everything faded back into mist and then to the beautiful blue eyes watching him. Beautiful eyes that were now part of a breathtaking face framed by purple-black hair. Saeko..._

**Takagi**

**Z-Day 1:15**

Takagi stood on the highest landing in the stairwell, facing the door to the roof. Finally. She should've been able to get up here to yell at Takashi for moping around being an idiot, and still make it to class on time. Unfortunately she'd been snagged by one of the administrators when she entered the building. Idiot thought she was coming to see one of the councilors for advice. How stupid could the staff of this ridiculous school be? They couldn't begin to approach her level of intelligence and yet still they believed SHE might need THEIR advice? She'd sooner go ask a fly for advice than ask one of those morons. She'd tried explaining this to the man, but he refused to listen to her, and instead insisted on getting her name and class number so that he could lead her to the proper office to speak to the right counselor. Ugh. To top it all off, once she gave the baffoon her information, he led her to an office that was empty and left her there with the promise to see if he could find the counselor. As he left he mumbled something about pushy kids and lazy, good for nothing bastards. Then the bell rang signalling the start of class. Irritating!

She had taken the opportunity to slip away, immediately heading for the roof, furious with Takashi for putting her through all of this just so he could behave like a stupid idiot. Having sufficiently worked her anger up into a raging fury, Takagi reached out to the roof door. Slamming it open with all her strength, her face a mask of righteous fury, she stormed out onto the roof. "You stupid, pathetic, worthless..." Her voice trailed off. It was empty. She was the only one present. She'd been so sure that Takashi would be here. She felt her anger settling in for a steady simmer. He would pay for this, oh yes, she would make Komuro Takashi rue this day. How dare he make her feel STUPID. How dare he make her LATE for class, for NOTHING! If that pesky blonde kid found him and passed on her message then she'd give Takashi a piece of her mind after class!

Not bothering to close the door, Saya stomped off down the stairs, unaware that she was on the way to the very last class she'd ever attend at Fujimi High School. As her echoing footsteps faded away, the distant sounds of a siren drifted in through the open door, followed by an equally distant cry of anguish.

**Morita**

**Z-Day 1:20**

He felt it with the tips of his fingers, but just as he began pulling, it slipped from him and rolled further away. With a heavy sigh, Morita wriggled further underneath the stairway. While trying to trap the elusive ping-pong ball he discovered two others as well and gathered them up as he started sliding back out from under the lowest step into the basement.

As his feet cleared the edge, Miss Hayashi spoke. "I was beginning to wonder if you had gotten lost. You really didn't have to go to all of that trouble. These things are as cheap as dirt." She said the last as she took one of the rescued balls from his hand as he struggled to gain purchase to slide himself the rest of the way out.

With one final shove and a puff, Morita slid from beneath the stairs. Miss Hayashi was standing close enough that when he held out the final two for her to take, he accidently saw up her long skirt, all the way to...NO PANTIES! Cheeks turning red, he looked away, trying to remove the image of her shaved area from his head he said, "That may be true, but I told you I'd help to get everything all cleaned up, and I'm true to my word." He then rolled to the side to stand up, exposing his back to Miss Hayashi. Her laughter stopped him cold.

"I'm sorry," she said between giggles, "I'm not laughing at you, but your entire back is brown from all of the dirt you got into under there. Sadly, it seems the janitorial staff doesn't share your enthusiasm for a job well done." Approaching him, she began patting his shoulders and back as he stood up, trying in vain to dislodge some of the dirt. "Lets go put this box up, then we can try to get rid of some of that dust." She turned away, heading into the rec room, thereby missing the look of consternation on Morita's face as he tried desperately to adjust his suddenly too tight trousers without attracting her attention.

As he followed her into the rec room, he was desperately seeking answers to some fairly recent, very IMPORTANT questions. What the hell is wrong with me? I have no business getting turned on by someone twice my age! I am not like Imamura! Although, he did have a point about Miss Marikawa, and Miss Hayashi looks really good in that tight skirt and jacket...shaved. STOP THAT! You are NOT helping the situation! He watched from the doorway as Miss Hayashi bent down to place the box in the corner by the Ping-Pong tables. Such a shapely body! No! She's a TEACHER! Get your head out of the gutter Morita! She stood back up and turned to him with a smile.

"Morita, come here and turn around. I need to try to clean you up. It's the least I can do after all you've done." She watched him expectantly. After some hesitation, he walked to her and following her instructions, turned around. He was painfully aware as she reached out and, placing both hands onto his shoulders, began brushing at the dust. She started out gently, but soon began rubbing vigorously, up and down his back, back and forth on his shoulders. He soon found it difficult to stand. With a sigh of frustration that blew sweet smelling breath across Morita's neck and jaw, Miss Hayashi brought her hands across his chest to the opening of the dusty jacket where she inserted them and then ran them back up to his shoulders, carrying the jacket off as they went. He was too stunned to move as he felt the jacket slide off of his board stiff arms, the memory of her hands gliding across his chest freezing him to the spot.

Snapping the recently removed jacket in the air, Miss Hayashi said, "Ok, once I get this stubborn dust off this jacket, we'll be done, and you can go on your way. Hmmm, didn't you say you were in a hurry before? What was so important? Clearly it wasn't class, or you wouldn't have been here at the dormatory. Anything you might need assistance with? I am a teacher after all. We're here to help you students in whatever way we can."

This had the effect of a cold shower on a scorching day. Coming back to his senses, Morita thought about what Takagi might DO if she found out he hadn't followed her instructions. Man, and it had been such a GOOD day too. Looking at Miss Hayashi, Morita began to explain. "Well, actually, I was on my way to check on a friend of mine. He hasn't been to any classes today and while another of his friends was going to the roof to look for him, she sent me to check his dorm room. She expected him to be in class this afternoon. I've got to go see if he's there. Sorry Miss Hayashi, this was all actually fun. I hope to get to talk to you again sometime." He turned around to leave, but his foot caught a raised corner of a rug and he fell forward, catching himself on one of the Ping-Pong tables. As he attempted to right himself, the most horrifying sound in the world issued from his pants as they split along the seam. His entire head turned red.

Miss Hayashi tried to stop it by placing her hand over her mouth, but it would not be contained and she burst out laughing. Tears came to her eyes as she doubled over in her mirth. As the laughter finally subsided, she reached out and handed the blushing Morita his jacket, and with a slight giggle said, "No, I believe that the first order of business for you right now is to find a change of pants. Come on, I'll go with you and then we'll check on your friend." Speechless, Morita took his jacket and tied it around his waist, then followed Miss Hayashi out of the rec room while listening to a story from when she was in highschool and her friends froze her bra while she was at a party. What a strange, strange day.

**Takashi**

**Z-Day 2:05**

The figure in the bed snores lightly, unaware that the world he fell asleep in is now dead, and a new one, far more brutal, has just been born. The loud speaker for school announcements blares to life. "Attention all students and teachers! Attention all students and teachers!"


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, here's the actual chapter 3, thanks for reading.

**Once again, I do not own anything from Highschool of the Dead.**

**Chapter Three: Voices of the Dead**

**Hirano**

**Z-Day 2:05**

Class was almost over. Hirano sat at his desk, watching Takagi as she impatiently drummed her fingers on her desk while the teacher explained their homework assignment. He knew the tapping wasn't just because she thought the homework assignment was a waste of time, though he was SURE that she did actually think that. At least, she would if she was paying the least bit of attention. No, something else was bothering her.

After his unfortunate start to the day and subsequent stay with Miss Marikawa, he'd done some hard thinking, mostly due to the things Miss Marikawa said about Takagi and Komuro. Looking back, Komuro had _bumped _into him every morning at school since the rescue. Usually he'd just walked near Hirano, though Komuro did TRY to talk to him that first day after Takagi and he had rescued him from the bullies. Sadly, he was just too shy, so the conversation never went anywhere.

Then there were the afternoons too. Takagi and Komuro would trail him to class. They'd been looking out for him all along, he just hadn't seen it! This morning was the first chance those thugs had gotten to beat him up. It was the first day that Komuro hadn't been there too. Then after lunch, Komuro nor Takagi were behind him, but the thugs didn't bother him. He guessed that they got their fill in the session that morning.

Once he got to class, he kept watch for Takagi and Komuro. He'd planned to ask them about what Miss Marikawa had said, and what he'd realized because of it, but the bell rang and neither of them were in the classroom. After that he started worrying that maybe something had happened to them, but at about 1:25 Takagi had come into class. Alone. She looked really pissed when she walked in. She looked even more furious when she looked over at him as she made her way to her seat, her eyes lingering on the bruise darkening his jaw. Since then, she'd been sitting like that, her fingers drumming away. She was mad at Komuro, but she seemed worried too. Suddenly she looked over toward the loud speaker. It took Hirano a minute to realize that someone was speaking. "...chers! At the present time, there is a violent struggle occurring on the premises. Students, stay with your teachers and follow their instructions!" In the silence that followed, Hirano could hear the panic beginning as numerous voices were raised in alarm and confusion. Swallowing his own fear, he continued to watch Takagi. Whatever happened next, her example would be the one to follow. The loud speaker came to life once more.

"Repeat, at the present time there is a violent struggle occurring on the premises..." Hirano winced as the speaker suddenly gave a hideous series of screeches and pops, like it had been dropped. In the stillness that followed, moans could be heard, filled with such intense need it sent shivers up his spine. The tell tale shudders on other students gave voice to the fact that Hirano was not the only person creeped out by the sound. "Gaaahhh! Ah! Help me! Stop! Ah, ahh! Ahh! Help! Ow, that hurts! Help! I'm going to die! Gwaahhh!" All that could be heard after that was more of the terrible moaning. Someone laughed nervously. "This is a joke, right?"

Still watching Takagi, Hirano only had a split second to immitate her and slide down under his desk before all hell broke loose. It was as if that random voice shattered some magic spell, and suddenly everyone was moving at once with no regard for anyone or anything else. Pushing and shoving, screeching and screaming. It was absolute chaos, impossible to follow or predict. Through it all, Hirano kept his focus on Takagi, drawing comfort from her strength as she sat calmly beneath her desk. An island of serenity in an ocean of fear and pain. She was his rock.

**Sophomore:**

**Igou Hisashi**

**Z-Day 2:05**

Tum-tum-tum-tick. Tum-tum-tum-tick. Tum-tum-tum-tick. Tum-tum-tum-tick. Hisashi ground his teeth and looked over at Takagi for about the eighth time since she had come into class at 1:25 with her face looking like a thundercloud. Now, forty minutes of her constantly drumming fingers later, he was certain that he himself looked ready to explode. Takagi was a better-than-you bitch even on a good day, but this was absolutely over the top, even for her! She may believe herself to be the next Einstein, but that didn't mean that SOME people weren't here to actually learn! Which they couldn't do with her doing that the whole time!

Taking a breath to actually say something to Takagi, his attention was caught by the sound of a throat clearing. Looking around, he saw Rei staring intently at him. Slowly she shook her head, and, at his questioning look, mouthed the words: _Worried about Takashi. _Slowly, realization dawned. Takagi was expressing herself the only way she could. She probably didn't even realize she was doing it. Looking at Rei, he could see her concern as well. His brow furrowed. No one had seen Takashi today.

Before he could fully wrap his head around this fact, the loud speaker screamed to life. "Attention all students and teachers! Attention all students and teachers! At the present time, there is a violent struggle occurring on the premises. Students, stay with your teachers and follow their instructions!" He watched as Rei's eyes widened with suprise and alarm. After a brief pause, the principal came back on to repeat his warning. Part of the way through, it sounded like he dropped the microphone. After that, Hisashi felt as though he was sitting in a horror flick as they heard some hideous moaning, followed by the horrific sounds of the principal being murdered.

Like the rest of the class, he sat there stunned. He just couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He locked eyes with Rei, the fear in her eyes mirroring his own. Someone laughed and Hisashi's world seemed to shrink until it was only he and Rei. He pushed up out of his chair and took a couple of steps toward her before someone collided with him in their attempt to get out of the class room. Seeing Rei stand up from her seat and get swept up by others as they too fled, his heart beat sped up and he flung the person away. He didn't know who it was, nor did he care. His only concern now was Rei.

He felt himself being buffeted by the others as they passed by. He gave where he could, stood firm whenever he was in danger of being swept away, and he didn't hesitate to use force against those who would not remove themselves from his path. At some point, Rei had been knocked down, and she was dazed and in danger of being trampled when he reached her. Grabbing her from behind, in one motion Hisashi drug her to her feet and swung her around and into a corner at the back of the room. With her safely tucked away in his arms, he stood as her shield with his back to the fear maddened stampede of humanity as they blindly sought escape from an unknown enemy.

Within the protective circle of his arms, Rei stared blindly at his chest as her mind painted horrible images to match the savage sounds assaulting her ears. Suddenly tears she hadn't even known were there began streaming down her face. They didn't stop, even after the horrible sounds of pain and death subsided and deafening silence again ruled the classroom.

**Senior:**

**Busujima Saeko**

**Z-Day 2:05**

She let out a sigh of frustration as she knealt on the mat, surrounded by the quiet of the empty training room. Her irrational behavior of the past week was now affecting her even here. For the past hour she'd been trying to find her center, only to have his face invade her thoughts whenever she tried to focus. Her obsession was clearly becoming a detriment, something her father would admonish her for, were he present.

Such a powerful presence. Before a week ago she'd never noticed the young man anywhere around campus. An unsettling thought for someone who prided themselves on being completely aware of their surroundings. Yet until that day, when he'd stood in defense of that poor boy, somehow she'd missed him.

At first, he'd annoyed her when he struck down the foul thug who'd addressed her in such a fashion, denying her satisfaction. Only to then display such discipline. When he realized he was going to be hit, he didn't waste energy or time trying to avoid the unavoidable, he merely braced for it so that he might recover more quickly. Already in motion to enter the battle, she suddenly found herself beside him, blocking the incoming attack. It had been an unconscious decision on her part.

During the battle with the thugs, she had finally become aware of his power. He was untrained in martial combat, that was obvious, but he seemed to know instinctually how best to assist her against their numerous opponents. The most suprising thing had been when he'd warned her of a thug behind her. Then he'd placed his hands on her waist and lifted her up so that the intended leg sweep from the thug passed harmlessly beneath her. She'd wrapped her arms around his neck for balance and lashed out at the thug with both feet while he held her.

Her palm still felt the vibration of his heart beating beneath it, and the memory of his breath exhaling across her neck as he set her down still caused her goosebumps. She'd asked him if he was ok, and he'd nodded before his attention swung to the boy on the floor. A girl with pig-tails that she'd seen many times was already kneeling by the boy, but she stood and backed away as the young man knealt and began helping the boy up. Feeling forgotten, and a strange sense of loss, she'd backed away as well. He had a brief conversation with the boy where he'd introduced himself, Komuro Takashi, and the pig-tailed girl, Takagi Saya. The boy gave his name as well, Hirano Kouta. Komuro Takashi. Komuro. Takashi. The name seared itself into her mind.

She'd hoped to get another chance to speak with Takashi, to introduce herself, but he was soon leading Hirano away. He was supporting Hirano on one side while Takagi supported the other side. Following behind, she'd listened at the door to the nurse's office as they explained what had happened, and as Takagi had vented her frustration and anger about the school's indifference about what those thugs were up to. Deciding to leave before someone spotted her lurking in the hallway, the last thing she'd heard before slipping away was Takashi promising Takagi that they'd help protect Hirano. Silently, she'd made the same vow.

Over the week since that day, while she'd discreetly watched over Komuro and Takagi while they watched over Hirano, she'd made it a point to learn what she could about Komuro Takashi, mostly by eaves dropping on him and his friends. He was a sophomore. He was not a straight-A student, mostly from personal disinterest than lack of understanding. He still carried a torch for his friend Miyamoto Rei, though she was dating a boy named Igou Hisashi, who was supposed to be Komuro's best friend. His importance to Takagi Saya appeared on the surface to be as a verbal punching bag, but she had come to realize over the week that Takashi was very likely Takagi's best friend and neither of them would ever do anything to truly hurt the other.

Probably the most interesting thing she'd learned, was that Komuro Takashi did not flaunt his power. To all appearances, none of his friends knew how strong a person he really was. Mostly because he chose to defer to Igou anytime there was a difference of opinion, again due to his personal disinterest in having a pointless arguement, so long as everyone was looked after.

Today though, Komuro had not been with any of his friends. She had looked for him this morning as she went to classes, but had only seen Takagi. He was nowhere to be seen at lunch, and Takagi had sent Komuro's blonde friend off to check the dorms for him. Based on that and what Rei and Hisashi spoke of before leaving, none of his friends had seen him. His absence worried her, but she had followed her usual routine anyway and had headed toward the training room to meditate. On her way, she'd seen Hirano Kouta. He'd been beaten, which worried her further. She'd had to fight down the urge to hunt down those thugs and give in to the animal that lived in her, the animal that she used meditation to control. It left her no choice but to come to the training room rather than search for Komuro. Her very next stop would be the nurse's office to see if Komuro was there, which he might be since Hirano had been hurt. She had planned on searching out the nurse anyway to ask her about depression and it's symptoms, though if he was with the nurse, she would likely notice if he seemed depressed. Saeko smiled as she felt herself finally relaxing as her restless mind finally cleared.

Her eyes snapped open as the loud speaker came to life. "Attention all students and teachers! Attention all students and teachers! At the present time, there is a violent struggle occurring on the premises. Students, stay with your teachers and follow their instructions!" Saeko's eyes narrowed as she stood from the meditation mat. As the principal spoke again, she headed toward the storage racks. "Repeat, at the present time there is a violent struggle occurring on the premises..." She scanned the Bokken on the racks, searching out the strongest among them as the loud speaker made a series of horrid noises, like it was dropped, then the moaning began. "Gaaahhh! Ah! Help me! Stop! Ah, ahh! Ahh! Help! Ow, that hurts! Help! I'm going to die! Gwaahhh!" Her fingers closed around the Bokken she'd chosen. In a swift movement she removed it from the rack and passed it through some warm-up slices, the air whistling with its passing. Whatever was going on, she needed to get to the nurse's office as quickly as she could. If Takashi was there and hurt, she would ensure nothing touched him!

**Kyoko**

**Z-Day 2:05**

"Morita, we have to go make sure that the staff knows that something's wrong! We don't have time to check on your friend!" Morita just kept climbing the stairs. Hayashi stumbled up after him and grabbed his leg. As he struggled to remove her grip, she questioned how it had come to this.

_She smiled as she climbed the stairs behind Morita, him desperately trying to keep the jacket from flipping up and exposing the hole in his pants. He was actually a good looking kid. A couple of years older and she'd consider him luscious. She remembered the feel of him while she was dusting him off, decently muscular, no baby fat left on him. The smile faded. God, she needed to date someone. Here she was, looking at a sixteen year old like he's a piece of meat. Her last boyfriend was what...four years ago? He was twenty and thought it was great that she was twenty-six. What was with her and younger men! They had left the stairs and, not having realized that he'd stopped, she bumped into Morita. _

_Without thinking, she'd reached out to steady herself with her hands on his shoulders. "Sorry." she'd said, looking at him with a smile. He was smiling too, and she looked away with a blush._

_He'd told her that he'd be right out and then gone into his room. As she'd waited, she found herself thinking about the last time she'd touched a man, and she shuddered. Mr. Teshima. Best reason to NEVER drink again. After a few minutes, Morita came out of the room with a big grin on his face and turned in a circle to show that he no longer had on holey pants. He'd then informed her that his friend's room was on the next floor and they started off, talking about music as they went. _

_Just before they got to the next floor, a voice called her name from below. Looking over the side, they could see the security man. "Miss Hayashi! I think you need to come see this. I've tried to reach security over at the admin building, but I can't get him, or anyone else for that matter." That ended their day. She and Morita had gone back down the stairs to the security desk where an image was frozen on a screen. When the security man pressed a button, the image played._

_It was Mr. Teshima, another P.E. teacher, and the grounds keeper. They were talking to a man who was repeatedly walking into the main gate. She watched mystified as Mr. Teshima grabbed the man, and the man bit him. It then looked like Mr. Teshima had a seizure. When he got up, he immediately attacked the grounds keeper, there was no sound, but they could tell that the grounds keeper was screaming as he attempted to hold off Mr. Teshima. Suddenly there was blood, too much blood as Mr. Teshima bit the grounds keeper in the throat...and began eating._

_After about thirty seconds, the grounds keeper pushed Mr. Teshima off and stood up. The other P. E. teacher had been backing away, and seeing the grounds keeper getting up, he turned and ran out of the angle of the camera. Mr. Teshima and the grounds keeper followed slowly after him._

_The security man replayed it, and she started to shake. If not for having to pick up those Ping-Pong balls with Morita, she would likely have been there, with Mr. Teshima and the others. With shaking hands, she picked up the phone and dialed 110. The phone rang multiple times, and then picked up. Prepared to tell someone that police assistance was required at Fujimi Highschool, she was caught off guard as she heard a recording, informing her that all of the 110 lines were busy._

_"How long ago was this recorded?" She asked. The security officer pointed at the screen. 1:55. Five minutes. Frantically, she attempted every number that she knew for people in the admin building and the classroom buildings. Not one person answered as she'd called. Looking over, she'd seen Morita's face. He looked back up the stairs, and then back over at her. "I'm really sorry Miss Hayashi, but I HAVE to check on him. If he's in there, I have to tell him about that!" He said, gesturing at the monitor._

She lost her grip, the sudden freedom causing Morita to stumble back and sit on the stairs. Hayashi opened her mouth to plead her case again, but the Principal's voice suddenly came out of the loud speaker. "Attention all students and teachers! Attention all students and teachers! At the present time, there is a violent struggle occurring on the premises. Students, stay with your teachers and follow their instructions!"

Into the silence, Morita spoke. "Miss Hayashi, it sounds like they know about that fight, and it really isn't going well. Please, let's go check on Komuro, please!" Once again, before she could respond, the Principal came back on the loud speaker. He was just repeating what he'd already said. Partway through the repeat, the microphone must have dropped, and what she heard next froze her blood in her veins. She didn't know it yet, but she was hearing the voices of the dead.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Education From The Dead**

**Takashi**

**Z-Day 2:05**

"Attention all students and teachers! Attention all students and teachers! At the present time, there is a violent struggle occurring on the premises." Takashi stirred on his bed, but sleep stubbornly held on.

_Saeko's face disappeared, leaving Takashi alone, floating in darkness. Suddenly falling, his hair blew back with the wind of his passage, ensuring him a clear view of the white wall that was rapidly approaching. Frantically flailing at the air, he vainly attempted to gain purchase on anything to slow the inevitable. He stopped mere millimeters from the wall, no, not wall, mat. In a ring, like in American boxing. A man stepped out of the shadows and clutched the microphone suddenly dangling from the darkness above. _

_"Students, stay with your teachers and follow their instructions! Tonight promises to be an amazing night folks! The earth will tremble! The oceans will boil! The stars may well fall from the sky as these two great titans clash here within this very ring! I give you, on my right...the bold, the beautiful, Miyamoto Rei!" Suddenly Rei dropped from the darkness, spinning her spear through some amazing moves. "And on my left...the calm, the collected, the dangerous vixen, Busujima Saeko!" A section of the mat bulged, then lifted above the rest, gradually growing in size. Once it reached a certain height, the mound melted away here and there leaving behind a statue looking exactly like Saeko. Then Saeko stepped from the statue, and it dropped back to the mat, falling like rain into a pond. She held her sword down, but in a ready state._

"_Repeat, at the present time there is a violent struggle occurring on the premises...without further adou let the fight begin!" The announcer dissolved into mist and blew away into the darkness beyond the mat. Rei raised her spear and charged Saeko. In a blur of movement, Saeko blocked the charge and retaliated. As they locked weapons, both women looked at each other across them, then they tilted their heads back and screeched._

Takashi bolted up from his bed. Fuzzy images of people fighting, maybe women, quickly fading into the mists as his mind struggled to make sense of the terrible screeching and popping all around him. Suddenly the sounds stopped, and into the resulting silence, moaning spilled out and steadily rose in volume. What in the hell was going on! "Gaaahhh! Ah! Help me! Stop! Ah, ahh! Ahh! Help! Ow, that hurts! Help! I'm going to die! Gwaahhh!"

Struggling to put on a shirt, Takashi stumbled out of bed toward the closet. That had been the principal's voice. Was...was it real? Pulling out a pair of cargo pants, he suddenly had a thought. What if he was still dreaming? Sliding his left leg into the pants, he accidentally kicked the closet door.

With a yelp, he fell to the floor, grabbing and holding his toes. Between gasps, he said, "W-well, that...answers...that question... damn that hurts!" After a few moments, he positioned himself and placed the other leg into his pants, careful not to kick the door again. Grabbing his shoes, he walked over to look outside. As he held aside the curtain to look, a knock came at the dorm door. With the sound of the principal's anguish replaying in his head, Takashi looked around for anything he could use to defend himself. The knock came again, this time followed by a familiar voice.

"Komuro! Are you in there! It's Morita. Hey Komuro! Open up man!" The knock came again, along with what sounded like a kick. Maybe Morita would know what all was going on. Takashi swiftly moved to the door and opened it up. Morita practically flew into the room, followed by Miss Hayashi and the day time security officer, Kobayashi Yori. Mr. Kobayashi closed the door behind him and ensured it was locked.

"Morita! Miss Hayashi! What the hell is going on! Was that actually the principal on the loud speaker!", Takashi asked. Morita and Miss Hayashi looked at one another for a moment before Morita indicated with a nod of his head that she should speak to Takashi.

Taking a deep breath, and a step toward him, she put her hand on Takashi's shoulder. "Komuro, there's been an...incident. About fifteen minutes ago, someone at the front gate attacked Mr. Teshima, and bit him. After what appeared to be a seizure, Mr. Teshima attacked the grounds keeper who was present as well. He bit the poor man in the throat...and began...EATING him. He must have killed the man, he must have, no one can lose that much blood and survive. Yet... the grounds keeper... he didn't stay down, he...he...it defies all logic, but he stood up from where he died. He and Mr. Teshima followed after another teacher, presumably to try to kill him...and eat him. We have nothing concrete to go on as to where they went, or what they've done. One thing for certain is that they...or someone they...killed...made it to the Principal and likely all of the other staff in the admin building."

Takashi listened to all of this without uttering a word. When she finished speaking he just stood there, his head slightly bent, lost in thought. Miss Hayashi, Morita, and Mr. Kobayashi all exchanged glances. This was not the reaction they'd expected at all. They'd all seen the tape, and they barely believed it themselves. Perhaps it was just all too much for him to handle, and he'd snapped. Turning back to Takashi, Miss Hayashi prepared to try to slap some sense back into the boy.

Before she could swing her arm, the vacant look in Takashi's eyes vanished. Looking directly at her, he said, "Ok, just so I know I have this right, some guy attacked and, presumably, somehow KILLED Mr. Teshima. Then, Mr. Teshima's CORPSE got up, and attacked the grounds keeper, killing him as a snack. Just stop me if I get something wrong here. Then, the grounds keeper also got up, and the two corpses have been wandering around doing who knows what, to who knows who. You're all telling me that I went to bed in the real world, and I woke up in a bad horror film? Have I misunderstood anything? If it was just Morita and I hadn't heard the principal, I'd be saying he was plain out of his damned mind. As it is, I have to take you at your word, until we find out anything different. This is just crazy, completely crazy. By the way, why did all of you watch what was going on, and not DO anything about it?"

Miss Hayashi couldn't help herself, she giggled. Slowly, the giggles grew into laughter, and the laughter quickly crossed the line from mirth to hysteria. With a sudden and loud pop, the room sank into silence. Miss Hayashi held her hand up to her left cheek, shock filling her eyes before being replaced with understanding and gratitude. With a bow, she said, "Thank you, Komuro. That was definately a path I did not need to tread. To answer your last question, Mr. Kobayashi here had us view the tape from his station down stairs. It was already five minutes old then. I tried to reach the staff to inform them of what we'd seen, but no one answered the phone. I was trying to leave to go find someone in the administration building when the Principal came over the loud speaker." She hung her head. "In truth, I was arguing with Morita. He wanted to come up and see if you were here, and I wanted him to go with me to inform everyone that something was happening. I'm sorry. At the time it seemed the best course of action. Once the Principal was...killed, the point was obviously moot, and Mr. Kobayashi informed us that some _PEOPLE_ were heading this way. They appeared to be...like Mr. Teshima. We decided to see if you were here, then to try to find ourselves some means of defense. Again, I apologize for my initial intent."

Takashi put a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Hayashi, you have nothing to apologize for, you were only trying to help others. I'm just glad that you didn't get over there only to find the place overrun. As to defense, I was looking for something like that when you knocked. After listening to what happened to the Principal, I didn't know what to expect. As you can see, I didn't find anything worthwhile as a weapon in here. The custodian's maintenance closet on the ground floor might have something in it if you want to try looking there. I've never been in there, but he seems to come out with a lot of stuff, way more than I've ever seen in the closets in the other buildings. The most they usually have is just a sink, a mop, and a bucket. Anyway, it may be worth a try. Oh, and please don't call them people. They're way below that, and zombie, well...just sounds frivilous. For now...do you think we can just leave it at THEM?"

An agonized scream from outside had them all rushing to the window. They watched the scene play out in the parking lot below, much like bystanders might watch as a terrible automobile accident occurred, horrified but at the same time, morbidly unable to look away. A man wearing a motorcycle helmet and riding jacket was being pulled away from a black motorcycle, his leg caught in the jaws of one of THEM. As he screamed, more of THEM ambled into the lot, many wore the school uniform with varying signs of damage, while some were clearly staff and teachers. All were shuffling ever closer to the screaming man. Frantically, he tried to pull away from his captor, only to lose his balance and fall onto the ground. He flailed his arms wildly as they arrived, accidently releasing his keys to fly into the side of the motorcycle and bounce to the ground. As they piled atop him, the screams became muffled, then ceased altogether. In the sudden silence, Miss Hayashi let her breath out in a whoosh.

"I believe that was Mr. Arai Hachiro, the shop teacher. He gave me a lift once when my car broke down last year. He was a nice man." She wiped a stray tear from her eye.

Morita cleared his throat and asked, "So...how about we go see what there is in that maintenance closet, then get the hell out of here?

Pointing out of the window, Mr. Kobayashi said, "That's a bit easier said than done, I'm afraid." With their eyes, the other three followed his pointing finger. Out across the parking lot, down the drive, they could make out a group of panicked students. Pushing and shoving, climbing atop each other, prying at the metal of the gate, screaming in fear and pain as they tried desperately to escape. They watched as several students reached the top via the backs of less fortunate others and dropped down onto the otherside...only to be pushed back up against the gate by THEM, and eaten. Realizing their position between the jaws of a vice as THEY converged, many of the students tried to make a run for it, back to the possible safety of the buildings. None of them made it, their screams being overpowered by the screams of their fellow classmates still at the gate as they too became a meal. None. Not one student out of perhaps fifty walked away from that gate, and soon they were all THEM.

Takashi shook his head. "Alright, we need to get that gate open in order to leave. Miss Hayashi, don't all of you teachers have a card that you scan in order to get in and out?"

She nodded. "Yes, mine's in my car...there." She pointed to a little green two-door hatch back. We can use the card, but my car is next to useless. I had just enough gas after lunch that I could get to a gas station, I hoped. If we all tried to get away in it now, I bet I'd run out before we got a kilometer."

Morita looked around the room. "Ok, here we go, we get ourselves something to defend with, then we go out and get the card, and finally we leave, right? Right." With the sound of squealing tires, a car swerved onto the drive from another parking lot, running down THEM as they went. They were swerving back and forth across the drive, and finally the little car jumped the curb on the right and slammed first into a pole with a box on it, and then into the wall going around the school. The door of the car opened, and a teacher slumped out onto the ground, where she started to shake and vomit blood. After a minute, she got up from the ground and stumbled away, joining several others in walking repeatedly into tree trunks and tables.

Mr. Kobayashi gave a small chuckle. "Either all of THEM are extremely stupid, or they're blind."

Miss Hayashi nodded. "Hopefully, its the latter. Blind trumps stupid at this point. Better yet, blind AND stupid..." Suddenly, Miss Hayashi let out a moan and let her head fall forward against the glass, not too hard, but enough that the resultant sound caused several of THEM to look their way and then to start coming toward the dorm building. Lifting her head, she pointed at the knocked over pole "That stupid idiot. She took out the remote reader. My card is useless now. Without that reader, the only way to open the gate is from inside the security office in the administration building."

Takashi had been watching the approaching dead, and he pointed to them with his chin as he said, "While I can appreciate how much harder the lack of the card reader is going to make our lives, I wish you hadn't hit the glass. I think we'd better get to the custodian's closet as quick as we can, because we'll have company soon, if we don't already." Carrying his shoes in his hand, Takashi followed the group out of his room and down the hall to the stairs. As he headed down them, Takashi felt inexplicably exhilarated.

**Takagi**

**Z-Day 2:10**

Everything was quiet except for the occasional sniffle from the back of the room, or a distant moan from hurt students. Takagi looked around the room as she climbed out from beneath her desk. There were several foot prints on her desk and others. The room had the look of a house the day after a wild party. Random papers and books scattered on the floor with forgotten book bags and lost shoes. School uniform jackets were strewn about the room along with everything else. There were quite a few bloody patches on the floor, walls, and desks. There were even four or five students on the floor. None of them were moving. Another sniffle caught her attention and she turned her eyes to the sound. In the back corner of the room a student stood, his arms wrapped around another, a girl. On closer examination, she realized that it was Igou, so the girl must be Rei. They seemed fine for the moment, so she turned her attention to the student closest to her, laying motionless. Stepping cautiously through the debris, she knealt down by the girl and gently rolled her over.

Stiffling a shriek, Takagi pulled away, falling on her backside. What was left of the girl's face stared up at the ceiling through a single eye, already beginning to cloud over with death. There was no sign of the missing eye. Swallowing down her bile, Takagi gently rolled the girl back over with her foot and stood up. A slight choking noise caused Takagi to whip around. It was Hirano Kouta. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she saw what he was doing.

Gently and with great reverence, he was placing one of the uniform jackets over the face of a young man. He looked up at her with unshed tears as she approached. "He...he always treated me nice, I think he deserved better than this."

Takagi felt her own eyes tear up. "Were you friends?" Hirano shook his head. "No, not as such. He was just kind, but to me...to me that was...golden. All the times we spoke, I never got his name...he knew mine though. We should check these others." A tear escaped his brimming eyes and fell onto the obscuring jacket.

Within a few moments, they knew that none of the remaining three students were alive. They made sure to cover them and the girl as Hirano had covered the boy. Having finished their grim task, Takagi and Hirano approached Igou and Rei. Placing her hand on Igou's shoulder, Takagi asked if they were ok. Stiffly, Igou turned to look at her, he smiled slightly and nodded. "Nothing a bit of time won't fix." He winced as he released Rei, and he brought his right arm across to rub his left shoulder. Takagi gently moved him aside so that she could look at Rei.

Other than some cuts and bruises, she looked reasonably ok. She did have a nasty looking knot on the side of her head, but she seemed not to notice. Looking into her red, bloodshot eyes, Takagi couldn't bring herself to be angry at Rei. Still, she had to know. "Have you seen Takashi?"

Igou was the one to answer. "No one has seen him today. I'm sorry Takagi." Takagi waved his apology away. "Nothing to be sorry for. I'm going to beat his stupid butt senseless when I see him. He was supposed to be helping keep Hirano here out of trouble, which he clearly didn't do this morning. When I find him, he'll wish he was one of these unfortunates here on the floor." As she said this, she gestured to one of the bodies of the students.

Hirano tapped Takagi on her shoulder. "Are these two some of your friends?" Takagi glared at him. "I was just getting to that stupid. Miyamoto Rei and Igou Hisashi, this is Hirano Kouta. Hirano Kouta, I present to you Miyamoto Rei and Igou Hisashi. Happy now?" Hirano beamed at Takagi. Hisashi and Rei laughed. Takagi scowled as she walked over to the window. What a bunch of idiots. Pulling apart the blinds, she looked out onto the grounds. "Guys...you'd better come see this."

Gathering by Takagi, they looked out at the lawn become a slaughterhouse. Everywhere there were students running for their lives, climbing trees, hiding under tables, a few were even trying to ride away on bicycles. They were all being chased by teachers, staff, and other students. Those running were surrounded and brought down, like some poor injured animal surrounded by wolves. The few riding on bikes were yanked off by grasping hands. One of the students trying to hide in a tree was grabbed as he climbed, his captor opened his mouth wide and took a massive chunk out of the boy's calf. Screaming, the boy kicked the monster in the face, then tried to climb higher. His scream attracted others, and they surrounded the tree. A teacher hiding under a table screamed as one of the hunters tripped over her leg that stuck out. Soon, she was swarmed and her cries fell silent. The bitten boy was coughing up what looked like blood onto the monsters waiting below. Takagi felt her lunch trying to come back up as she watched them attack student after student. Distantly, she heard retching as one of the others was unable to control their gag reflex. Her eyes were glued to the boy in the tree. With a final cough, he vomited blood and fell from the tree. Within a moment, he was up and walking away on his half-eaten leg, chasing another unfortunate soul with the rest of the monsters.

Letting the blinds snap back together, Takagi turned around to look at her companions. Using one of the forgotten jackets, Rei was wiping her mouth as Igou rubbed her back and whispered soothing words. Hirano was still looking out at the carnage with a frown. "Violent struggle my ass.." he said to no one in particular, "..more like annihilation. What are we going to do Takagi?" He let the blinds go and looked at her expectantly.

As she worked through a plan, Igou answered first. "We can't stay here, there are too many other students, all looking to get out. We go to the roof, look around, maybe signal some help." Rei nodded with enthusiasm. "Yeah, maybe the cops or..."

Takagi didn't let Rei finish. "Don't be such idiots. Don't you think someone in the administration building, maybe the principal we all heard being murdered, would've called for help? I don't hear sirens, do you? We are clearly on our own here. Our priorities have to be weapons first, escape second. I do not want to end up like those kids outside right now, nowhere to run and nothing to fight back with."

Igou was shaking his head. "I have a black belt in karate, I can defend us well enough, but if its that bad outside where you have space to move, it must be ten times worse in here. We HAVE to get out of here."

"Look, with your shoulder hurt, you're not going to be able to really help any of us. Our best chance is to stick together, but we have to move, and we have to get ourselves some way to defend ourselves. Just...come with us to the shop class, there's plenty of stuff we can use there I bet. Once we get there and you're armed, I won't stop you if you still feel the need to get to the roof, we may even go with you, but please...weapons first." Takagi pleaded. Igou nodded his head in acceptance.

Hirano, who'd moved off toward the door, was suddenly pulling the door closed and waving them all to silence. Frantically he whispered "Someone's coming." Tensely, they all watched the frosted glass in the hall-side windows as a shadow slowly made its way along. Reaching the door, the shadow very quietly tapped on it and whispered. "Is anyone there? Hello?" The shadow tried pushing open the door. Hirano had locked it. "Now I know someone's in there. Please, open the door. I'm not one of them, I promise." With a nod from Takagi and Igou, Hirano gently unlocked the door and stepped back.

Hearing the lock, a girl quickly stepped into the room, shutting and locking the door behind her. She wore the standard girls uniform, though it was torn, dirty, and splattered with blood. She had several bruises and cuts on her arms and legs. Shoulder-length red hair obscured her face as she held a finger to her lips and moved over by the outside windows, waving everyone over.

When they were all together, she whispered to them again. "We must be quiet. They seem to hunt by sound, one of them had just turned the corner when you let me in. I hope it didn't hear me, but if it did, our silence may help convince it to seek a meal elsewhere." A thud resounded through the room followed by a hissing sound as a shadow hit one of the windows, and drug itself along the wall. They had jumped at the sudden sound. Without the girl's warning, they may have made noise, but all remained silent as the thing stopped by the door. They could hear a foul sound coming from it, like a cross between a moan and a grunt.

As they watched, two more shadows shuffled down the hall past the room and the stubbornly standing monster at the door. More tense minutes passed while they sat in silence. Again they jumped as an unfortunate student screamed from the direction the other shadows had gone. Moaning loudly, the one outside the door shuffled away toward the sound. They all looked at the girl and she stared right back at them. "We were going to the shop class to look for weapons and anything else useful. Care to come with us?" Takagi asked in a whisper.


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own any of the Highschool Of The Dead characters or story**

**Chapter Five: Fighting The Dead**

**Security Officer**

**Kobayashi Yori**

**Z-Day 2:25**

Setting the crow bar and bolt cutters he'd found beside the work bench down onto the cluttered desk, Yori sighed. Not much to work with. "Well, that's it then. Chains for locking up the doors and gates, a crowbar, bolt cutters, a hammer, and two large pipe wrenches. Everything else is either power tools or locked up inside the cage at the back of the shop. From what I can see, the stuff in the cage is mostly plumbing and electrical related, so it wouldn't be worth the noise to break into it."

Miss Hayashi pursed her lips, and the two boys each gave the closed door leading out a long look before turning back to the desk and their meager weapons choice. After a couple of silent minutes, the dark-haired boy, Komuro, spoke. "I can handle one of the wrenches I think, Mr. Kobayashi do you want the other one?" Yori nodded as he reached out to grab one. "Morita? Miss Hayashi? What would work best for you?"

Miss Hayashi reached out toward the crowbar, then hesitated. After a moment of further thought, she instead grabbed the hammer and the bolt cutters. "I hopefully won't need these, but just in case, the hammer will be easier for me to use. We may need the bolt cutters later too." She looked at Morita.

He smiled as he took the crowbar. "Guess this baby's mine then. So, what about the chains?"

Yori shrugged. "Leave them. They're dead weight and noisy. If they really are blind, less noise is better."

Miss Hayashi was shaking her head the moment he said to leave the chains. "Wait, we know that being bitten is very bad, right? Clearly regular clothing isn't enough to protect us from a bite, but, what if we were to wrap the chains around our forearms? I know. They're heavy. Yes, they may make more noise, but every little bit of protection helps. I say we keep them and use them." Yori and Miss Hayashi looked at the two boys.

Morita was the first to buckle under their combined gazes. "What are you looking at us for? Yeah, Miss Hayashi's plan sounds good to me, but what has that got to do with anything?"

Miss Hayashi's eyes softened. "This involves you two as well. It's not as if we were just going to go for a field trip. The decisions we make here could get us all killed. I want to protect the two of you, but...I'd never forgive myself if I got someone killed because I wouldn't listen to others' opinions. At this moment, we are a team. If we don't trust one another, we may as well just throw the doors open and ask THEM to eat us. With that in mind, since I may die today, I want to do it hearing my name, not my family's. Call me Kyoko please."

Komuro nodded. "Fair enough. My friends call me Takashi. I also think that your idea for the chains is good."

Yori and Morita also gave their first names, then they all began wrapping chains around thier forearms. With some experimentation and a small amount of some wire they found inside one of the desk drawers, they managed to secure the chains to their arms where they didn't rattle. With that done, they all moved toward the door.

Looking around at each of their faces, Yori felt a little hope grow in his heart. Reaching out, he slowly began turning the knob on the door. Easing it open a little, he peeked out. The area looked clear, and he opened the door all the way. Step by silent step they made their way to the glass doors leading outside. Having a sudden thought, Yori held a finger to his lips and moved across to his desk. His radio was sitting on top, with his favorite CD in it, ready to fill the world with music as soon as he wanted it. He'd turned it off when he was showing Kyoko the video of Mr. Teshima and never turned it back on. Now he unplugged it and carried it in his free hand.

The others were giving him disapproving looks as he rejoined them and they walked out into the afternon sunlight. As they headed toward the administration building, he whispered his plan to them. "We'll take this into the principal's office, then we can pipe music out over the loud speakers all over campus. While THEY all go to investigate, we should have a relatively clear run to the gate."

They all nodded. Takashi thought for a moment, then asked, "Miss...Kyoko, do the teachers keep their keys and phones with them during the day?"

She shook her head. "No, they usually leave them in the faculty room on the second floor of the administration building. Why?"

"A car would likely prove useful. Maybe we should head there after getting the gate open?"

Yori shook his head. "The security office is right by the principal's office. We can't start playing music as a distraction if we plan on going further INTO the building. That'd be crazy, and trying to start the music afterwards would be too dangerous."

The group swung wide to avoid some of THEM under a tree, and angled back in toward their destination. A scream suddenly echoed off of the buildings and a young girl ran around the corner of the administration building. Spotting the group, she started screaming for their help and angled her run their direction. Behind her came a horde of THEM, her screams calling to their hunger.

They tried to quiet her sobs as she reached them, but she wouldn't listen to their pleas. She just kept babbling about help, and how could this happen, and how very glad she was to see others. Turning to go back the way they came, they saw the two of THEM that they'd gone around coming from behind.

Completely frantic and beyond all reason, the girl tried to make a run for it between the two that were blocking their escape back towards the boys dormatory. With a quick lunge, the one on the right grabbed her as she went by, sinking its teeth into her shoulder. Kicking and screaming, she tried to get loose, only to have the other one bite into her stomache. Pain-filled shrieks assaulted the group's ears as THEY feasted on her. Turning to face the oncoming group of THEM, Yori's last look at the girl made him sick. The one on her shoulder was working in toward her neck, and the one at her stomache had already breached the cavity and was eating her spilling intestines. The images were burned into his memory. He couldn't help but wonder if that would be him soon.

Lacking other options, the group charged the oncoming crowd of THEM. They discovered quickly that body blows, while they may knock THEM down, didn't actually seem to hurt THEM. When one of THEM latched onto his quickly raised forearm, Hideo discovered what did hurt them. Trying to dislodge what had been a girl from his arm before the pressure of her bite broke it, Hideo struck her on the head with his crowbar. Without a sound, she dropped like a stone and didn't get back up. Raining blows down around him, he called out to the others. "Their heads! Hit THEM in the HEAD!"

For awhile after that, there was just the sounds of metal hitting flesh, and the crunch of bone. Where the group had started out almost back to back, they had advanced out several feet from one another. Suddenly it was over, they had torn through the group of THEM, probably fifteen in all. Looking around and at each other, they were stunned by the amount of blood and other material that was covering the ground, and themselves. Hideo bent over and threw up. Kyoko moved over and began rubbing his back and whispering to him. They had been brutal, but at least they were still alive.

At some point the girl's screams had fallen silent. A moan in the silence brought Yori and Takashi swinging around to look back toward where the girl had died. The two of THEM were now coming their way, and the girl was standing up, her un-eaten intestines dragging on the ground between her feet. Together, Takashi and Yori moved to intercept the moaning abominations, ending their miserable existence swiftly and silently. Together, they finished off the girl, who'd tripped and fallen on the dangling innards.

Rejoining Hideo and Kyoko, Takashi leaned in to ask Hideo a question. "You okay?" Hideo nodded his head and smiled weakly. "Ok, if we're all ready, we should get moving." They all nodded, and Takashi gestured for Yori to lead the way. As he moved into the lead, Yori absently scratched at his left wrist just below the chain on his arm, where a tiny cut oozed blood.

**Senior: **

**Takahashi Akane**

**Z-Day 2:45**

Cursing under her breath as she slipped in a pool of blood, Takahashi Akane reached out to steady herself on a locker. Lying in the blood was a young girl. She looked to be fifteen or so, and she had clearly lost her life in the earlier stampede. Saying a quick prayer for her, Akane hurried after the girl with the pig-tails and the chubby guy. The other two were coming along behind her. They'd left the relative safety of that classroom about twenty minutes before, but it felt like forever. There'd been several close calls, and her nerves were frayed. The shop class should be close, assuming none of THEM were in the way.

As she rounded the last corner, she just barely managed to get stopped before hitting the chubby guy. The pig-tailed girl turned around and, with a grip on the chubby guy's sleeve, went back the way they'd come. Down the hall, maybe five meters past the shop class door, were several of THEM. She followed the others back around the corner and joined the impromptu meeting of her fellow students. The pig-tailed girl was speaking in a low whisper to the other two, who had not seen the group of the dead down the hall.

"Look, we've come this far already, we can't just turn around now. If we're quiet, we can sneak into the classroom and get something to protect ourselves with. We've been very lucky so far. That won't last, sooner or later, we're going to find ourselves stuck in a situation that we can't just run from."

The grey-haired guy was shaking his head. "No. We can find some other place to look for weapons. If we make a wrong move now, we're dead. I won't risk my or Rei's life for POSSIBLE gain. What if someone has already cleaned it out? What if we get in there and something happens to attract THEM? No, it was close enough back in class with that one outside the door. We NEED to get outside."

As the pig-tailed girl began arguing her point once again, Akane reached up with her right hand to tuck a stray bit of her bright red hair back behind her ear, and looked around. Personally, she agreed with miss pig-tails, but she could see the guy's point. His immediate thoughts were clearly on the other girl's, Rei's, safety. Sadly, he couldn't see past that. There. A CD amidst the rubbish and blood at the base of the lockers across the hall. Without hesitation, she stepped across the hall and picked up the disk. The conversation tapered off as the other four turned to watch her actions. Moving before her nerves could catch up to her, she stepped back around the corner and let the shiny little disk fly from her hand. As the others stared at her in shock, she stared at the disk, willing it to fly as far as it could.

Holding her breath, she watched it sail over the THEM, and all the way to the end of the hall where it smacked into the wall. It rebound into the lockers, then fell to the floor where it twirled around on edge before lying still once more. Moaning with their never-ending hunger the dead turned as one and shuffled down the hall. Suddenly the pig-tailed girl, chubby guy close behind, shot past her towards the now unguarded shop classroom. She hurried behind them into the room. Rei entered right behind her with the grey-haired guy, who silently shut and locked the door.

As the chubby guy began grabbing things and laying them on a workbench, the pig-tailed girl spun to face Akane. "That...that...was a pretty good idea. Next time though, a little warning would be nice. I nearly fainted when I saw you throw that. It definately did the job though. Ok, we're here, so lets grab what we can and then we'll discuss where we go from here." She turned back to the chubby guy, pointing things out for him to get and bring to the table. A hand on her shoulder had Akane turning toward Rei and the grey-haired guy.

The hand belonged to Rei, she was smiling warmly. "I'm sorry that we haven't had the chance to introduce ourselves yet. I'm Miyamoto Rei, and this is my boyfriend Igou Hisashi." She said the last while gesturing to the grey-haired guy. Then she pointed to the pig-tailed girl. "That is Takagi Saya. She's a bit of a strong personality, but I've known her since kindergarten." Igou and Miyamoto laughed as Takagi spoke from across the room. "I heard that Rei. Stupid, you should be more quiet with THEM out there."

The chubby guy stopped what he was doing and looked at Akane. "I'm Hirano Kouta. I'm a sophomore, we're all sophomores I believe. Thank you for helping us out. If you hadn't told us about THEM hunting by sound, we would've had to spend time figuring that out. One of us could've even gotten hurt."

Akane felt her cheeks flush, and she bowed her head. "You're welcome. Thank you all for letting me into the classroom. My name is Takahashi Akane, and I'm a senior. It is an honor to meet you all. So, what do we have around here to protect ourselves with?" They all gathered around the table as Takagi pointed things out as possible weapons or other items they may need in their uncertain future.

Many of the items were less for protection, and more for assistance. There was rope, a battery operated drill, screw drivers of various shapes and sizes, wrenches, three hammers, quite a few other hand tools, and a nail gun. After spending several minutes going over what they had, and the items' possible uses, Takagi picked up the nail gun and held it out to Hirano. "You're a dork for army and gun stuff right?"

Tuning out the rest of what Takagi said, Akane picked up two of the hammers, then tested their weight and her speed swinging them. One of them, she thought it was called a ball-ping hammer, was the lighter of the two at about a half of a kilogram. She decided to use that one with her weaker left hand. The other looked like a small sledge hammer weighing around two kilograms, and she figured her right hand could handle it through repeated use. They would work for her, so long as they didn't get into any prolonged fighting.

The sound of a handsaw on wood drew her attention. Igou was cutting about a meter off of a two and a half meter circular piece of wood. When he finished, Hirano asked him if he could use the saw too. With the saw in hand, Hirano walked over to a different table that had the nail gun, a wooden T-square, and some fabric tape, where he proceeded to cut the wood of the T-square. Takagi was standing and watching curiously as he worked. Turning back to watch Igou, Akane saw him wrapping tape for a grip on the larger section of the rod he'd cut. He then inserted a long strip of metal into a slit in the uncut end of the wood.

They all jumped at a sudden thumping on the classroom door. A tell tale moan followed which told exactly who was hitting the door. Their weapons manufacturing had clearly attracted unwanted attention. Igou went feverishly back to work on his weapon. Hirano was also still working on his idea for the nail gun, if Takagi's worried pleas for him to listen to her and do something were any indication.

Akane moved over closer to the table where Takagi and Hirano were. With her hammers in hand, she turned to face the door, moving her arms slightly to loosen them up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Miyamoto pick up the last hammer. It looked like this was where it would end for them. Minutes ticked by in a flash as the thumping became harder and more frequent. Dimly she heard a drill start up behind her, where she'd last seen Igou. Whatever he was doing, it'd better be damned worth it. She watched as more shadows arrived outside the door. Akane closed her eyes, her lips moving slightly as she raised a fervent prayer to anyone and everyone who might be listening out in the universe. Please, just let it be quick.

Behind her, Takagi's cries for Hirano or Igou to do something were reaching a fevered pitch. "Damn it Igou Hisashi! Put down your precious stick and DO SOMETHING! We have to stop them from getting in! Hirano! What the hell are you doing over there Hirano? Can't you see that they're almost in!"

After a couple of grunts, Igou called out. "Rei, use this!" She heard the hammer hit the floor as Rei dropped it to catch whatever Igou had thrown to her. About the same time, the glass in the door shattered and the already stressed wood groaned under the new pressure as the THEY leaned through the window. Akane raised the hammers and steadied herself. With a last groan of protest the battered door finally relented, falling in to the floor, spilling THEM into the room. Akane's eyes flew open. Time to die.

**Saeko**

**Z-Day 3:10**

The teacher's body fell limply to the floor, its skull caved in from her blow. With a quick rotation of her upperbody she brought her bokken into the side of a girl's head, then a twist of her arms as she rotated back forward slammed the bokken handle into the forehead of another teacher with the crunch of breaking bone. Straightening as the two bodies thumped to the floor, Saeko continued down the hall.

That was the fifth unavoidable confrontation she'd had since she started toward the nurse's office. Three of those had been because some panicking kid would run up to her, begging for protection, and then run off when the fighting started. The second and the last had been fought because to go around would've taken her too long, and just knocking them down would not have worked. Even with so few delays, caution demanded the utmost care and she'd helplessly watched as an hour passed while she made her way slowly toward the nurse's office. Finally, she was nearing her destination.

Signs of THEM were very few here, and it looked as though the students in this area weren't so violent in their fear as they had been elsewhere. The floors were mostly clear of debris, and there were only a few places where blood had splattered. Her hope of finding Takashi alive had dropped drastically when she'd realized that the threat wasn't, strictly speaking, human. Seeing this area seeming nearly normal, her hopes were climbing once again. Rounding the last corner, she was very happy to see Miss Marikawa disappearing into the office, telling someone to lay down on one of the beds.

She quickly covered the short distance to the door. Looking in, her hopes plummeted. There was no sign of Takashi. There were two boys, one on a bed, the other helping Miss Marikawa. The rest of the office was empty.

Stepping into the office, she closed the door. The boy helping Miss Marikawa turned to look at her as she stepped in, and regarded her over his glasses. "Busujima Saeko. It's good to see you here. You haven't been bitten too have you?" She shook her head as he scratched at his blonde hair. "If you weren't bitten, why aren't you out trying to escape like everybody else?"

She cocked her head to the side. "I came to find the nurse and...someone else. I need to ask her some things. You know, the same could be asked of you. You don't appear to be bitten either."

He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "The guy on the bed, Okada Hotaka, he's in my class, we've been watching each other's backs. He got bitten awhile ago by a girl we'd met up with. She collapsed and coughed some blood. He picked her up and we started heading this way. All of a sudden, she sunk her teeth into his hand. When she did that, he dropped her and we left her there. I tried to stop the bleeding, but I couldn't. I'm hoping Miss Marikawa can help him." He turned to watch the nurse as she cleaned the wound.

After Miss Marikawa finished cleaning and bandaging the wound, she moved over to Saeko and the blonde boy. "Well, that's all I can do for him at this moment. It's a shallow cut, not much more than a scratch really, but I couldn't seem to stop the bleeding. He's also running a very high temperature. 39.5 Celsius. I've been trying to reach the police and fire departments, but nobody answers the phone. Oh, hello Busujima. Are you hurt?"

Smiling, Saeko shook her head. Poor Miss Marikawa, such a brilliant medical mind, such a ditzy person. "No, I'm fine Miss Marikawa." She turned to the blonde guy. "What's your name?"

Looking at her, he took a moment to process her request. "Oh, uh, sorry. Ishii Kazu. Okada and I are sophomores."

Looking between Miss Marikawa and Ishii, Saeko let her eyes rest on the boy in the bed. "You two know what happens to you once you're bitten?" They both looked at her in confusion. "When one of THEM bites you, it is only a matter of time before you die. From what I've seen, the amount of time it takes for someone to die depends on how bad the initial wound is, and how active they are afterwards. Okada Hotaka will die. When he does, he will come back as one of THEM, and he will then attempt to kill us. Its fact. The only question is, how do you two want to handle this?"

Both of them looked at her with open mouths, but Miss Marikawa recovered first. "Wait a minute. What are you saying Busujima? I have no idea what you're even doing here, but if all you want to do is prematurely put my patients into the ground, you can just march yourself right out of this office the way you came."

Saeko narrowed her eyes. "I came here hoping to find Komuro Takashi, or at least see if you might know where he was. So, unless you know where I can find him, I'm done here. As to the situation you have here... I have no intention of _prematurely_ doing anything, its your problem. I merely gave you the facts."

Miss Marikawa placed her finger to her lower lip. "Let's see, nooo. Nope, I disinfected some scratches for Hirano Kouta earlier. He had a run in with some bullies this morning. I took care of Takeshita Mai shortly after that. She had twisted her ankle running to second period. Nobody else since then. As to where he may have been, I'd have told you to try class or the dorms, but now, I'd say probably dead...or worse."

"Thank you for your time." Saeko turned to leave.

"Is it true?" The voice had them all turning to look at Okada. He was sitting up on the edge of the bed, his legs dangling over the side. "Is what you said true, Busujima? Am I already dead?" Closing her eyes, she nodded her head. "Then...would you...could you...I don't want to become one of THEM. I don't want to hurt other people. Please?"

Saeko opened her eyes and nodded. "I've never killed anyone before, but I will help you. I admire your courage, trying to protect others, even if it means your life. You will die with honor, I promise." Miss Marikawa and Ishii were making sounds of protest as she stepped forward, readying her bokken. Raising it for the blow, she looked over her shoulder at them. "Please do not interfere. This is a matter of protecting a man's pride, and giving him peace." Okada Hotaka smiled serenely as she brought the bokken down in a crushing blow.

A spray of blood spattering onto the floor and the gentle thump of his body falling back on the bed were the only sounds in the room for a few moments. Then Saeko turned to the stunned nurse and student. "Miss Marikawa, we need to leave here. It's dangerous and we need to get off of this campus to find some place safe. Gather what you think you might need that you can carry. We'll help you with whatever we can. Ishii, see if you can find something you can use as a weapon. Something that you can hit THEM in the head with and crack the skull. That seems to be the only thing that keeps THEM down permanently. We don't have much time, so we need to make the most of it."

As Ishii proceeded to look for a weapon to fit her description, Saeko moved to assist Miss Marikawa. Inside, her heart was breaking. Takashi was probably dead, walking the halls of this school as one of THEM. If she could, she'd look for him even now, to help him find peace, but she couldn't just abandon Miss Marikawa and Ishii Kazu. Maybe she'd find him as they left the school. That was the only hope she had left.

**Rei**

**Z-day 3:10**

Hearing Hisashi's call, Rei turned to look at him. Instinct was all that saved her from a headache as she reflexively dropped the hammer to catch what he'd thrown to her. It was a crude spear, and not too sharp. It would do for the moment. Hearing the glass shatter in the door, she took a ready stance. After a moment, the door crashed to the floor with some of THEM.

Stepping on the fallen, several of THEM moved into the room. With a yell, Rei jammed the spear through the heart of the monster in the lead. With a moan, it simply pushed its self further onto the spear. "Its..still coming! I stabbed it through the heart! How do you fight these things!" She was forced back a step by the relentless push on her spear.

From the corner of her eye, she watched as Takahashi moved in a blur, raining blows on two of THEM which had gotten close with no other opposition. She was holding them off, giving ground every few blows, much like Rei who was being pushed back too. Between one moment and the next, Takahashi somehow lost her footing and fell to the ground. Amazingly, she held on to both hammers, and she continued to beat on the nearest one of THEM. As it lunged, she brought the two hammers together on either side of its head as she closed her eyes and let out a terrifying scream. Takahashi filled it with all of her fear, her frustrations, her sadness, and over it all was her primal rage. It froze the blood in Rei's veins.

Ta-Pooft. Ta-Pooft. Ta-Poofta-Poofta-Pooft. Five of THEM very suddenly sprouted nails in their heads, including the one spitted on Rei's spear. The unexpected weight wrenched it from her hands as the body fell to the floor along with the other four. Hirano stepped past Takagi toward the fallen corpses, a manic look on his face which scared Rei almost as much as the rage-filled scream from Takahashi had. Ta-Poofta-Poofta-Poofta-Poofta-Poofta-Poofta-Poofta-Pooft. That quickly, the entire group of THEM were dead, and eight more corpses hit the floor. Rei was speechless.

Takagi's mouth hung open for a moment before she snapped out of it. "H-H-Hirano?"

Without looking at her, Hirano began speaking as he checked the bodies, making sure they were really dead. "Put that drill, those nails, and that gas cannister into a suitable bag. Oh, and put the toolbox in too."

Takagi's face turned red. "What's WRONG with you Hirano! What gives you the right to be ordering ME around!"

She took an involuntary step back as he looked at her over his shoulder with that manic look on his face, that immediately became the old Hirano when he smiled. "If you would be so kind."

He turned his attention to the body laying on Takahashi when, with a grunt, she pushed it off. She sat up, looking around. "What in the hell happened? Why are we still alive?"

Rei and Hisashi knealt down beside her. Rei gave her a hug, and whispered in her ear. "Are you okay? You scared the crap out of me with that scream. You weren't bitten were you?" Takahasi shook her head, looking down at the unrecognizeable mass of shattered bone, flesh, and blood that used to be a head. Her hammers had evidently struck the temples and crushed everything between them. Pushing Rei away, she leaned away from everyone and emptied her stomache onto the floor, then she began to shake uncontrollably.

As Hisashi moved to help her up, Rei jumped up and blocked Hirano, who was pointing the nail gun at her. "No! Hirano! She's not bitten! Stop, she's not bitten!"

Hirano stared hard at Takahashi, then looked at Rei. "Are you sure? I don't want to be a jerk, but we need to check her."

"He's right. We have to be sure I'm okay. We don't have the luxury of assumptions." Slowly, Takahashi lifted her hands over her head, then she began turning around, letting Hisashi look for any wounds. Finally, he stopped her.

Looking at Rei and the others, he nodded. "She's fine. All she has are the scratches she had when she joined us." Everyone visibly relaxed, including Takahashi. "Rei, can I have your spear back? I'd like to sharpen it more while the rest of you gather the things we can use."

Nodding, Rei pulled the spear from the corpse and tossed it to him. "We can't stay here much longer. There's no way more of THEM aren't coming, not after Takahashi's scream."

With that reminder of their tenuous position, they all scrambled to get what they needed as quickly as they could. They had weapons, tools, and a way to kill THEM. Having survived their first fight, there was a new sense of hope, though they all knew there was still a long way to go before they would be safe. If they could ever be truly safe again.


End file.
